Whitesbog 1/26--Blue-headed Vireo

I went to Whitesbog to do some scouting for Sunday's Pinelands Winter Bird Survey, though conditions then are forecast to be quite different than today's, which were clear and seasonably cold. Sunday could be biting cold with wind chills below zero and there is the possibility of a foot of snow on the ground. 

Or not. 

While my area extends way beyond Whitesbog, it is there that I try for 3 species--two owls and of course, the Tundra Swans. It is not looking good for any of them. Since the beginning of the year, I have been there a number of times pre-dawn and tried all my owl spots for both screech and Great Horned and have been returned with the sounds of silence. I can't imagine that both species up and left of a sudden. As to the Tundra Swans, the flock of 23, relatively small in itself, has diminished to almost nothing over the past month. It used to be not unusual to get 40, 50, even 80 swans on Union Pond and the adjacent bogs; in the days before my time, my informant tells me that he had counts in the hundreds. And it didn't matter if the water was stiff, as most of it was today. When the sun rose, there were no swans on any of the bodies of water mentioned. I walked back to ditch meadow and found none there. Finally, I walked all the way back to the pond off the landing strip and found a grand total of 4 swimming in some open water. On my way out, there were two on Union Pond, along with 2 Hooded Mergansers and 3 American Black Ducks. I don't know if those two came over from the other pond and didn't feel like driving back there to investigate, so possibly 6 swans is, for Whitesbog, a pathetic count. 

Two Tundra Swans with drake Hooded Merganser, Union Pond

But it was not all gloom today. After a long walk on the Burlco side, where I even filled up the feeders in the village hoping to attract some tweety birds for Sunday, I started another list on the Ocean County side of the line. Walking up the road I came across a huge flock of juncos, as well as a few Eastern Bluebirds and, always a favorite, a Brown Creeper. Recently, a lot of the brush alongside of the road has been cut down, giving a better view into the vegetation where the juncos flew into as I approached. Then I heard a strange buzzy call that was completely unfamiliar to me. Immediately a little bird popped out into a small tree. My first reaction was kinglet, but it was a smidge and a half too big for that. Then I saw, in rapid order, white spectacles, a blue-gray head, and wing-bars. An impression of yellow wash on the flanks. A very out of season Blue-headed Vireo it was. I saw it 3 times for a couple seconds apiece and heard it again, but once it flew back toward one of the overgrown bogs it was lost to me. It would be a great bird for the survey. I'm hoping it will pop up again on Sunday. I'm also hoping I'm not standing in a foot of snow with a frost-bitten nose while I look at it.